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Saturday, October 6, 2012

Donald Sangster, Jamaica’s most unappreciated PM

Published in The Sunday Gleaner on September 23:

Forgotten and unrewarded

Call
the names of Alexander Bustamante, Michael Manley, P.J. Patterson, or
Edward Seaga, and Jamaicans immediately know to whom you are referring.
Say the name ‘Donald Sangster’, and they may tell you about an airport, a
bookstore – or, perhaps, a rum cream. Not many may be readily aware
that Sir Donald Sangster was a prime minister of Jamaica.

Hartley
Neita, former press secretary for the prime minister, decided to fill
the gap of missing information about Sangster with his recently
published biography, Jamaica’s Forgotten Prime Minister – Donald
Sangster.

The book’s title alone is a rebuke to the
nation for failing to better honour the legacy of one of its premier
leaders; on Tuesday, September 18, no punches were pulled as panellists
Ken Chaplin, Michelle Neita and Patrick Bryan discussed the topic
‘Preserving the Memory of Our Prime Ministers’ at the Bookophilia
bookstore and café in Liguanea, Kingston.

Chaired
by University of the West Indies Professor Rupert Lewis, the evening
was characterised by a continuous flow of animated debate punctuated by
healthy doses of laughter from the audience, which included
communications specialist and media veteran Marcia Forbes; Donna
Parchment Brown, CEO of Dispute Resolution Foundation; Prime Minister
Sangster’s son, Bindley Sangster; author and educator, Dr Alfred
Sangster; educator and theatre personality, Jean Small; former high
commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Anthony Johnson; and
former Security Minister Dwight Nelson.

“If
we feel that the history of our country is sacrosanct, then we need to
preserve it,”noted Michelle Neita, daughter of Hartley Neita and editor
of the biography. She argued that with only nine post-Independence prime
ministers, it was tragic that Sangster’s name and legacy were so
obscure, and suggested the establishment of an organisation to record
their tenures of different prime ministers – something like a
mini-museum.

Ken Chaplin, former national press
secretary, asked how the memories of prime ministers could be preserved
when the country’s record of development had been far from impressive.
Crafting a compelling vision of the dismal state of the nation’s
education and economy, and referring to the link between crime and
politics, Chaplin decried the non-performance of Jamaican prime
ministers over the years, and asked if this below-average record was
worthy of memory at all.

He ended on a positive
note, however, suggesting that, in spite of all their shortcomings,
prime ministers’ memories could be preserved and emphasised the need for
“consistent and extensive national action”.

UWI
historian Patrick Bryan, who delved into the heart of Neita’s book. “On
the surface,” Bryan said, “the PM has not been forgotten, so why is he
called forgotten?” He went on to explain this was because of
the shortness of Sangsters’ term in office and the very limited
knowledge of his personal contributions to nation-building.

The
veracity of this point was later proven when Ambassador Johnson noted
areas in which Donald Sangster was critical to Jamaica’s
nation-building:

- making Jamaica the ‘tomato capital’ of the
region. He noted that if Sangster had stayed alive, we would still have
a vibrant vegetable industry in St Elizabeth;

-
being an avid supporter of CARIFTA, to the point where he was given the
moniker ‘Mr Commonwealth’;

- supporting the
building of the Donald Sangster International Airport at a time when
others would perhaps not have seen fit to do so. This facility was later
named in his honour and is now the largest airport in Jamaica; and

-
procuring a contract for Jamaica to export oranges to New Zealand

Summing
up, Dr Alfred Sangster said the PM was “forgotten and unrewarded”. He
noted that the importance of Neita’s book lay precisely in the fact that
it shed light on a man who had worked hard for the benefit of his
nation, and would dispel some of the myths and mystery surrounding his
tenure.

“He represented perhaps one of the last prime
ministers who could walk in any crowd and be comfortable,” Sangster
said. “We, as a family, are proud of him.”

The Author

I'm in love with life, books, beads and dolphins. People fascinate me. I have partial daydreamertalkersleephappygolucky syndrome which means I dream alot (and I mean that in both senses: the fairytale, cottons-and-blue-skies way as well as the Martin Luther King Junior "I-have-a-dream" way), I rarely keep still (fidget alot). I love smiling and laughing. I know I am insane but I'm okay with it. *Deep breath* I have grown to accept that fact. I'm also an unredeemable NERD: nothing distracts me from a good book. I see my life as one big blessed adventure. That alone makes it pretty interesting...

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